Before incorporation as a city, the area that would become the city of Grosse Pointe Park was incorporated as the Village of Fairview, which spanned Bewick Steet in the west to Cadieux Road in the east in Grosse Pointe Township. The city of Detroit annexed part of the village in the township from Bewick Street to Alter Road in 1907. Fearing further annexation, the part of the village east of Alter Road incorporated as the Village of Grosse Pointe Park later that year. Seeking further annexation protection from Detroit and independence from its township, the village reincorporated as a city in 1950.

In 2014 the city placed a farmer’s market on Kercheval Street, on the border with Detroit. Grosse Pointe Park officials moved parts of the market to another location but still had it partly blocking Kercheval. In 2015 the city added large planters at the intersection of Kercheval Avenue and Alter Road, on its border with Detroit. The city government stated that it is a beautification project.